Silent Sunday⤴
from NomadWarMachine
Tag Archives: Games
What would Wittgenstein think of remix?⤴
from NomadWarMachine
We were playing a game at the weekend, which Kevin started.
We answered by making an acrostic of the word we guessed until we got it right
Then Wendy put her twist on it. Different game, different rules. Obviously related – that’s how remix rolls, and the challenge is to work out what the new rules are, or how the old ones apply.
And that got me thinking: what would Wittgenstein think of remix? I think he’d have understood that it’s all a matter of what game you are playing.
“However many rules you give me—I give a rule which justifies my employment of your rules” (Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics [RFM] I-113).
wwwd – John's World Wide Wall Display 2020-12-30 15:45:31⤴
Please note: I know there are a TON of game mechanics in Among Us. I am only sharing the ones that I thought would work for my students, my classroom, during COVID (6 feet apart and no sharing materials ), and with students in person and remote
Looks interesting. My class are pretty interested in this game and play their own version in the playground.
Instagram GO⤴
Dean Groom on Poekemon Go:
Teachers should care about Pokémon Go! – after from the initial network effects (craze) as it is a good way for kids to develop socially. It isn’t designed for education and certainly presents the all too common accessibility issues of commercial games – but THIS game leads you to start thinking about why games, play and learning are important – and how they can be connected with helping children deal with saturated media cultures – Great!
from: Should teachers care about Pokémon Go? | Playable
There is a lot more to think about in that post.
As usual with games, my mind wander and my eyes glaze, I’ve never caught the game bug (although I am interested when I read something like the above).
My first though was it is a wee bit like golf, a good walk spoiled. I am now wondering if some of my own behaviour fits the pattern.
- I wander about outside, searching, looking at the map on my phone
- I capture images
- Share and store online, socially, flickr, instagram.
Featured image my own, IMG_5868 | John Johnston | Flickr CC-BY, sort of hunting idea. The kind of Pokemon I look for.
Games in Schools MOOC starting soon (@eu_schoolnet)⤴
from Ollie Bray @ OllieBray.com
I am delighted to announce the 3rd round of the EUN Games in Schools Course with new content, activities, webinars and subtitles in French, Italian, Greek and Romanian will be starting on the 18th April 2016. The course takes into account some of the more recent developments in the area of games-based learning including virtual and augmented reality, a bigger focus on mobile games for smartphones and tablets, as well as the newest games and hardware available on the market.
The course will examine the opportunities but also challenges offered by integrating games into our teaching and learning and will provide practical examples of gaming tools and activities to use in your daily teaching practice. We will be learning through a mix of video, interactive activities and discussions as well as sharing of resources.
The first question we will explore is, why use computer games in schools? We will then look at a range of games which do not necessarily have an educational purpose but can be used nicely for thematic learning on topics such as gravity, planets, construction, and many others. However, we will also explore games that have an explicit pedagogical focus and are designed to help students learn anything from Maths to Languages. Game mechanisms can be powerful motivators to succeed at a task, so we also ask the question, what can we learn from games for our teaching. And rather than just have students using games we will introduce a range of tools that you can use to get your students to design games, learning important skills such as coding, design, and creativity along the way. Finally, we address why it is important to teach about games, highlighting issues such as privacy, safety but also the cultural impact of games.
The course is being run jointly by European Schoolnet and ISFE (The Interactive Software Federation of Europe) and is entirely free. It is open to anyone who is interested in the topic but is primarily aimed at practising teachers.
Join us already in the Games in Schools Facebook Group or share your ideas about the topic using #gamescourse
Games in Schools MOOC starting soon (@eu_schoolnet)⤴
from Ollie Bray @ OllieBray.com
I am delighted to announce the 3rd round of the EUN Games in Schools Course with new content, activities, webinars and subtitles in French, Italian, Greek and Romanian will be starting on the 18th April 2016. The course takes into account some of the more recent developments in the area of games-based learning including virtual and augmented reality, a bigger focus on mobile games for smartphones and tablets, as well as the newest games and hardware available on the market.
The course will examine the opportunities but also challenges offered by integrating games into our teaching and learning and will provide practical examples of gaming tools and activities to use in your daily teaching practice. We will be learning through a mix of video, interactive activities and discussions as well as sharing of resources.
The first question we will explore is, why use computer games in schools? We will then look at a range of games which do not necessarily have an educational purpose but can be used nicely for thematic learning on topics such as gravity, planets, construction, and many others. However, we will also explore games that have an explicit pedagogical focus and are designed to help students learn anything from Maths to Languages. Game mechanisms can be powerful motivators to succeed at a task, so we also ask the question, what can we learn from games for our teaching. And rather than just have students using games we will introduce a range of tools that you can use to get your students to design games, learning important skills such as coding, design, and creativity along the way. Finally, we address why it is important to teach about games, highlighting issues such as privacy, safety but also the cultural impact of games.
The course is being run jointly by European Schoolnet and ISFE (The Interactive Software Federation of Europe) and is entirely free. It is open to anyone who is interested in the topic but is primarily aimed at practising teachers.
Join us already in the Games in Schools Facebook Group or share your ideas about the topic using #gamescourse
Free web based resources that teach you how to write code (3 of 13) – Scratch⤴
from Ollie Bray @ OllieBray.com
This is part of a short series highlighting some free web based tools that can help teach kids to code.
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I’ll be pretty surprised if you haven’t heard of Scratch from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)?
You can use Scratch to program your own interactive stories, games, and animations — and share your creations with others in the online community.
Scratch helps young people learn to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively — essential skills for life in the 21st century. Scratch is provided free of charge and is a visual programming language.
If you have been a bit out of the loop you might not realize that the latest version of Scratch is completely web based (but you can still download version 1.0 – which is useful if you work in a school with a really poor internet connection.
Also, if you work with younger children you might also be interested in Scratch Junior which is specifically aimed at children between the ages of 5 – 7 and is available free of charge for iOS and Android.
Scratch Overview from ScratchEd on Vimeo.
Games in Schools MOOC [for @eu_schoolnet Academy]⤴
from Ollie Bray @ OllieBray.com
I've had a long established relationship with European Schoolnet and ISFE (The Interactive Software Federation of Europe). A couple of years ago we ran a Games in Schools Course for about 100 teachers across Europe. On the 27th October 2014 we are starting a new course that has been adapted into a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for The European Schoolnet Academy.
It is is entirely free and is open to anyone who is interested in the topic but is primarily aimed at practising teachers. We have over 1000 teachers already signed up to the course so it is shaping up to be quite a journey!
Details below (and here) - hope to see some people in the discussion forums.
“Computer games are the most powerful learning tool of our age.”
[Professor Henry James, MIT]
Join us in this exciting MOOC for teachers exploring the potential of games-based learning in schools. The course will examine the opportunities but also challenges offered by integrating games into our teaching and learning and will provide practical examples of gaming tools and activities to use in your daily teaching practice. We will be learning through a mix of video, interactive activities and discussions as well as sharing of resources.
The first question we will explore is, why use computer games in schools? We will then look at a range of games which do not necessarily have an educational purpose but can be used nicely for thematic learning on topics such as gravity, planets, construction, and many others. However, we will also explore games that have an explicit pedagogical focus and are designed to help students learn anything from Maths to Languages. Game mechanisms can be powerful motivators to succeed at a task, so we also ask the question, what can we learn from games for our teaching. And rather than just have students using games we will introduce a range of tools that you can use to get your students to design games, learning important skills such as coding, design, and creativity along the way. Finally, we address why it is important to teach about games, highlighting issues such as privacy, safety but also the cultural impact of games.
The course is presented by Ollie Bray, a former teacher and current school principle who has received numerous awards for his work in the field of technology enhanced learning. For more information about Ollie, click on his picture on the right.
The course is being run jointly by European Schoolnet and ISFE (The Interactive Software Federation of Europe) and is entirely free. It is open to anyone who is interested in the topic but is primarily aimed at practising teachers.
Join us already in the Games in Schools Facebook Group or share your ideas about the topic using#gamescourse
Escaping the Garden of Death and Educational Culture Change⤴
One of the games that I have shared with colleagues and many other folks at conferences and professional development events is The Nightjar featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. I was hugely drawn to this due to the narrative driven and engaging context of the storyline but mainly because it was a game that was driven by what I could hear... Have a look at the trailer:
The idea of a game that is driven by sound and the players reliance only on what they hear makes one immediately think of accessibility for visually impaired gamers but it also made me think of how such an experience could introduce sighted game players to an experience that required that they use this sense alone in order to escape the clutches of the alien and safely make it to the Nightjar's escape pod. What opportunities there are again to get players to look at writing their own text driven games, and how they could possibly be brought to life via Garageband or Audacity. Just even switching the direction from left to right audio (panning) could be the spark to light that creative use of tech to impact on the desire to create and enhance the texts they create and how they can write for a digital audience.
This morning a BBC Click feature alerted me to the fact that Papa Sangre II has been released. One of my jobs for today is to download this and to see if I can escape the Garden of Death!
With an enhanced 3D stereoscopic engine it seems that this audio driven game experience is one that is getting better and better.
The creativity that is being shown by games developers is really quite breathtaking at times...what a wonderful context this world is, if appropriately used, to help situate learning and learners in purposeful, relevant and motivating challenges. Now, if I had any influence or way in which I could help drive transformative change within our education system I would have it that games design companies and creative digital people from our brilliant universities would have representatives on local and national bodies to not only help raise awareness of what is out there but to raise the bar of aspiration and expectation of what we can expect from our young people. Alas, maybe I'll have greater luck escaping from Papa Sangre's Garden of Death... #everoptimistic
CPD: Game Making by Judy Robertson, Heriot-Watt⤴
from Digitalkatie @ Digitalkatie's blog
Judy Robertson from Heriot-Watt University gave a CPD session on Friday. I always like going to HW for meetings. There are ducks and swans there and I get to have lunch with my husband :-)
Here are the notes I made during the session.
Mapping CfE to game making:
Determination to reach high standards - often you will find yourself limiting children's ambitions to achievable targets. Reworking ideas is all part of the creative process.
The are high rewards for low effort at the beginning, but game making isn't simplistic, it stretches pupils skills and creativity.
Resilience is necessary because pupils will have to work and think about their aims in order to get the programming to do what they what.
Peer learning and sharing goes on with pupils as well as teachers collaboration.
CfE Technology Objectives:
TCH2-09a (P7) and TCH3-09a (S1-3)
P7 is just designing, S1-3 is design and implement.
Now not just games but "game, animation or other aplication" which is good.
CfE English Language principles:
"a text is the medium through which ideas, experiences, opinions and information can be communicated"
including "films, games and TV programmes".
We are now all teachers of literacy
As an example of literacy in programming, Judy said her husband once wrote a Prolog poem for her.
Scratch:
Free (big plus point!) and developed by MIT. Kids are learning programing in a really nice way but don't realise. Good teaching resources including 'Scratchcards'. Games can be shared online. It is great for kids to be able to share with kids outside of Scotland. Can change the language easily (eg into Polish)
Gamemaker
Better for older kids. Maybe too difficult for S2.
Free download at yoyogames.com
Excellent textbook and tutorials
http://book.gamemaker.nt/frames.htm
Crayon Physics and Phun
Phun free, Crayon $20. Cross between sketchpads and physics simulations. You can either design levels or play them. OK for a quick lesson on games design but not so good for teaching programing.
Second Life
Free. LTS apparently using OpenSim and integrating it into GLOW.
Adventure Author
Based at HW Uni, supported by EPSRC.
Aims to study the creative process learners go through when making their own computer games.
User-centred design is where users are frequently consulted when developing. Learner-centred design is where teachers and learners are an important part of the development process.
Worked with schools in Edinburgh, Dundee and East Lothian as well as holiday workshops (which are good because it lets kids get absorbed in the process without the bell ringing.
Based on Neverwinter Nights 2 but with free plugins with added educational tools and trickier parts of software removed. Free plugins at www.adventureauthor.org
3D environment which looks good, which is important for motivation.
Fridge Magnets tool is a colour coded design tool.
Conversation Writer tool has a tree branching structure displayed like a play scripts. Conditions possible, for example the first time you meet Cedric Bear he'll tell you a quest. Next time you meet him he'll say something different (depending on whether you've solved the quest)
Comments Card tool has been very successful as a discussion on evaluating the game.
My Tasks tool is a check list tool
Campie Primary School teacher has a blog about the experience. (I missed the link for this though)
We then got a demonstration of how to use Adventure Author and we were then able to try it out ourselves.
Another option suggested was RPG Maker 3000 which is free and doesn't need as powerful graphics card.
There are opportunities for using NWN2 in more depths. The programming is hidden by Adventure Author but can be shown to advanced students.
Suggestions of how to approach teaching Adventure Author:
Let kids "explore the sweety shop until they get sick"! The pupils will learn from just exploring.
Machinima movies are also possible using screen capture.
Judith at St. Augustine's described the difficulties of using this with classes - six weeks of a 50 minute lesson a week can make pupils very frustrated.
Heriot Watt are looking for teachers and schools to be involved in their Making Games In Schools project. The first training session will possibly be in September then a second cohort in November. The training is for 2.5 days at HW. They are ideally looking for two teachers per school, although this would be best to be different subjects. There is a small budget to help with hardware costs.